Eno

When Brian Peter George St. John le
Baptiste de la Salle Eno calls himself a non-musician, he isnt
confessing a fault or admitting a deficiency. His self-evaluation us a
proud stroke against obsolete concepts in rocknroll, he is a
madcap ringmaster in the center ring introducing an act that will not
only make music sound different, but change what it means.

Hes called Eno; you may put Brian
in front if you like. From 1972 through August 73, he,
electro-wizard in peacock feather radiance, the sultry Marlene Dietrich
of rock n roll, was one of the most visible elements of the
suddenly most visible band in the land. The faintly sinister, futuristic
pole opposite Bryan Ferrys urbane elegance. Its been said
that somewhere between the two there existed Roxy Music. Eno left the
group on July 23, 1973.

Eno had originally joined them as sound
mixer and electronics supervisor on the invitation of Roxys
saxophonist/oboeist Andrew Mackay, who met Eno when the latter lectured
at Reading University. Englands art schools have produced some of
Englands greatest pop figures, Eno being the latest in that
distinguished lin of descent. From 1964-66 he studied painting at
Ipswich Art School (after elementary education at the
Convent of Jesus and Mary and St Josephs College), and went on to
Winchester College of Art where he became involved in the
non-disciplines on which he non-bases his art  conceptual art,
machines, processes, sound. Influenced by such notable contemporary
composers as John Tilbury and Cornelius Cardew, he formed the
avant-garde troupe Merchant Taylors Simultaneous Cabinet and a
rock band called Maxwell Demon.

And it was here that he discovered the
tape recorder. He once owned 31 at a time.

Clear
statement is like an art object: it is the afterlife of the process
which called it into being. The process itself is the significant step 
 Edmund Carpenter

It seems to
me that every invention this century has been to do with seeing things
in terms of processes, not statics.  Eno, interviewed
in Sounds

The tape recorder (his favorite
instrument) processes, collages time. A year ago the shelves of his wall
held one-and-a-half million feet of tape. To each can be added, at whim
or will, the sounds of an Eno whos very different from the Eno who
made a tape a long time ago. When he sang with Maxwell Demon at
Winchester he made up the words as he went along. Eno understands that
situations influence music, that simply turning an instrument on changes
the preconceived musical idea. He knows that there is no such thing as
pure repetition of a sound, because with each return it changes
according to the listeners growing familiarity. Eno accepts the
inevitability of flaws, is fond of incorporating mistakes, and so
appreciates the Velvet Underground. He savors a chaotic (while
emotionally coherent) synthesis of diverse instruments, and so he joined
Roxy Music.

Eno admits to intellectual premises
(unfashionable in rock n roll) and intuitive, emotional
processes (likewise in the fine arts). He keeps journals which he fills
with graphs, charts, diagrams; but he claims that he does his best work
when hes tired and his will yields to his intuition, and he says
he thinks that the accidents are more interesting than the things he
does intentionally. Many of his ideas are extracted directly from his
dreams. His Dada was a postman.

Music is no
longer for listening to, but for merging with. 
Carpenter, ibid.

One of the
things that Im particularly interested in is the overall quality
of sound, the synergy of sound, that is the sum of the whole being
greater than the sum of the parts.  Eno, ibid.

Eno is rock n roll, Eno is
pop. Hes recorded a single, Seven Deadly Finns, and is
generally fascinated by the format. Though not in love with the life of
the touring musician, he took his live show on the road in England
where, backed by a pub band called Winkies, he offered selections from
his initial solo release, Here Come The Warm Jets. The album features
oplaying by King Crimsons Robert Fripp, Chris Spedding of Sharks,
Hawkwinds Simon King and others of adventurous persuasion, all
under Enos aegis. In such situations he creates the chemistry,
merges the ingredients, and incorporates the fact that no one can
precisely predict the outcome.

Eno prefers to write (or recall from
dreams) lyrics of low definition, non-specific words that involve the
listener more thoroughly and lend the piece a suggestion of mysrtey. He
has listed the qualities that endorse the kinds of feelings I try
to inject into the music: sexy / insane / grotesque / sinister /
beautiful / passionate / incessant / desperate / angular / reptilian
(from a catalogue note for the Museum of Modern Art, Lucerne).

I never erase
anything.  Eno, ibid.

Among the projects (some in progress,
some completed, some conceptual) Eno has undertaken since leaving Roxy
Music are: Here Come The Warm Jets; ACNE (a colation of himself,
John Cale, Nico and Kevin Ayers); producing many records  John
Cale, Andy Mackay, Portsmouth Sinfonia (a collection of amateur
musicians who play your favourite classics), Magoic Michael (itinerant
songsmith), Pan-Am Steelband, and Moodies (an all-woman band); No
Pussyfooting, an album of Fripp guitar treated with tape and synthesizer
by Eno, recorded in one day in Enos home (cheap and successful);
the invention of the electric larynx  bondage meets electronic
music; the Plastic Eno Band (the sounds of Enos extensive
collection of plastic instruments manipulated on tape); and Luana and
the Lizard Girls (One of the Lizard Girls is bound, naked and
gagged, face down on the operating table. One of the rhythm guitarists
is stretching her arms. Luana the surgeon lifts the whip (the bamboo
whip). The first six blows occur at regular school intervals. The pace
quickens for the final eleven )  based on, what else, a
dream; and, of course, a second, even more ambitious album, Taking
Tiger Mountain (By Strategy).

In Taking Tiger Mountain Eno is
aided and abetted by, amoung others, Roxys Phil Manzanera and
former Soft Machinist, Matching Moler, and the only avant-gardist to
have a major hit with an old Monkees tune (Neil Diamonds cassic Im
A Believer), Robert Wyatt. Also appearing at different points in
the ascension of Tiger Mountain are The Portsmouth Sinfonia,
Randi & The Pyramids, The Simplistics and Roxys Andy Mackay.

As in the past, Enos use of
language serves to pre-determine the direction of the listeners
mind. Such titles as Burning Airlines Give You So Much More,
The Fat Lady Of Limbourg and Mother Whale Eyeless
leave no question as to Enos disorienting intentions, and he
follows through marvelously, both lyrically and musically.

Enos strategy employs musics of
varied styles and origins  from primitive to futuristic; jazz to
classical; circus to ragtime; and even some tried and true rock n
roll. Taking Tiger Mountain is a collage of images delved from Enos
mind and mindlessness. His vision is sometimes disturbing and sometimes
elevating, but, nonetheless, Eno has become a truly unique force in
music.

The
specialist has become a comic figure, replaced by the artist.
 Carpenter, ibid.

I maintain that one of my
talents is being completely amateur in everything I do. 
Eno, 19 Magazine.

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste
de la Salle Eno was born on May 15, 1948, in Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Psychologists
were recently called in to aid a boy who couldnt move or speak
unless an electronic cord , attached to his body, was plugged in.
 Carpenter, ibid.